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The vehicle was got across the river that night.
In the morning he started it off well laden with provisions,
and arrived here without any accident the same evening.
We were now well victualled for a month, but were puzzled
how to stow away our large stock of provisions, and
only accomplished it satisfactorily by giving up the
tent for this purpose. This compelled us all
to sleep in the open air; but as yet the nights are
very mild and pleasant.

Among the fresh arrivals at the diggings the native
Californians have begun to appear in tolerable numbers.
Many of these people have brought their wives, who
are attended usually by Indian girls. The graceful
Spanish costume of the new-comers adds quite a feature
to the busy scene around. There, working amidst
the sallow Yankees, with their wide white trousers
and straw hats, and the half-naked Indian, may be seen
the native-born Californian, with his dusky visage
and lustrous black eye, clad in the universal short
tight jacket with its lace adornments, and velvet
breeches, with a silk sash fastened round his waist,
splashing away with his gay deerskin botas in the mudded
water. The appearance of the women is graceful
and coquettish. Their petticoats, short enough,
to display in most instances a well-turned ankle, are
richly laced and embroidered, and striped and flounced
with gaudy colours, of which scarlet seems to have
the preference. Their tresses hang in luxuriant
plaits down their backs: and in all the little
accessories of dress, such as ear-rings, necklaces,
etc., the costume is very rich. Its distinguishing,
feature, however, is the reboso, a sort of scarf,
generally made of cotton, which answers to the mantilla
of Old Spain. It is worn in many different and
very graceful fashions—­sometimes twined
round the waist and shoulders; at others, hanging
in pretty festoons about the figure, but always disposed
with that indescribable degree of coquettish grace
which Spanish women have been for ages, allowed to
possess in the management of the fan and the mantilla.
Since these arrivals almost every evening a fandango
is got up on the green, before some of the tents.
The term fandango, though originally signifying a
peculiar kind of dance, seems to be used here for
an evening’s dancing entertainment, in which
many different pas are introduced. I was
present at a fandango a few nights ago where a couple
of performers were dancing “el jarabe,”
which seemed to consist chiefly of a series of monotonous
toe and heel movements on the ground. The motions
of the foot were, however, wonderfully rapid, and always
in exact time to the music. But at these entertainments
the waltz seems to be the standing dish. It is
danced with numerous very intricate figures, to which,
however, all the Californians appear quite au fait.
Men and women alike waltz beautifully, with an easy,
graceful, swinging motion.